WEBVTT

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 Well, good evening.

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 Let me invite you to turn once again in the Pew Bibles,

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 this time to John chapter 1, verses 1 through 18.

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 That's page 833 in the Bible in front of you.

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 John chapter 1, we're going to look at verses 1 through 18.

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 Let me read the Gospel of John for us.

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 And the life was the light of men.

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 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

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 He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

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 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

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 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

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 He was in the world, and the world was made through him.

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 Yet, the world did not know him.

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 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

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 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,

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 he gave the right to become children of God,

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 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,

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 nor of the will of man, but of God.

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 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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 And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,

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 full of grace and truth.

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 John bore witness about him and cried out,

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 This was he of whom I said,

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 He who comes after me ranks before me,

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 because he was before me.

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 For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

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 For the law was given through Moses.

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 Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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 No one has ever seen God.

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 The only God who is at the Father's side,

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 he has made him known.

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 One of the great struggles of any writer or any speaker

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 is to find just the right word to get across to your audience

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 what you want them to feel and know.

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 Mark Twain once said,

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 The difference between the almost right word and the right word

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 is a really large matter.

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 Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.

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 Maybe you can relate.

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 Have you ever struggled to find just the right word?

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 Whether composing a tricky email at work

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 or having an awkward conversation with a family member?

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 We get a lot of those around this time of year, don't we?

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 Or maybe writing a note of thanks to your friend.

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 How do you capture what's in your mind and heart

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 and really get it across?

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 It can be tough.

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 Often, we hope for the lightning

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 but end up with little more than lightning bugs.

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 Well, the Gospel of John begins by telling us about a word.

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 But this word, at long last, is the right word.

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 The word that brings life and light.

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 For this word is the word that does something

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 that no other word has been able to do.

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 This is the word that makes God known.

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 Look again at verse 18 if you have it open.

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 At first, John in verse 18 sounds like a good skeptic.

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 No one has ever seen God, he says.

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 God, after all, is God.

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 And if God is God, the infinite creator of all things,

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 we shouldn't just expect to see him around

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 like some other object, right?

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 Like we see a chair at Ikea.

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 Imagine a play by Shakespeare.

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 You know, no matter how long Hamlet searches and searches

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 in his literary Denmark,

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 he's never going to meet Shakespeare.

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 He's never going to run across Shakespeare in his play

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 like he meets Rosencrantz or Guildenstern.

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 And so, John says,

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 it's the same with God.

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 No one has ever seen God.

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 And when you think about it,

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 at the same time,

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 that hasn't stopped human beings

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 from talking a lot about God, has it?

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 And struggling to find the right words to describe God.

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 Just think of all the words that we use.

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 Infinite, eternal, holy, omnipotent.

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 These words sound like lightning.

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 But who's to say that they're not just lightning bugs after all?

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 No one, after all, has ever seen God.

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 But what if,

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 what if God chose to make himself known?

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 What if God had just the right word to say

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 that would communicate all he is to us?

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 What if in this world,

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 flickering with lightning bugs,

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 God himself would send the lightning?

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 And that's what the opening of John's gospel is all about.

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 And that's what Christmas is all about.

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 That word has come.

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 The perfect word.

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 A word that from all eternity was with God.

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 A word that from all eternity was and is God.

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 And when the fullness of time had come,

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 a word that became flesh and dwelt among us.

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 When I was in middle school,

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 the internet was relatively still a new thing.

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 And I remember in computer class,

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 after about 10 minutes that it took to dial up to the internet.

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 Remember when you had to dial up to the internet?

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 After logging in,

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 we would send emails to students in other parts of the country.

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 Sort of like electronic pen pals.

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 And of course, we take that for granted now, don't we?

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 But what an amazing thing.

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 We can share spoken and written words with people across the globe

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 in a fraction of a second.

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 And that's wonderful because there's so much that words can actually do.

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 There's so much of ourselves that we can share.

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 But imagine, what if after years of writing,

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 after years of messages traded across impossible distances,

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 suddenly you meet your correspondent,

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 your friend in person,

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 in the flesh.

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 You see, friends, the reality is God had been speaking

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 for thousands of years.

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 At many times and in many ways,

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 God spoke through means of prophets and dreams and visions

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 and oracles and written words.

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 But on Christmas night,

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 the word became flesh.

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 God arrived in person.

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 In Jesus Christ,

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 the word himself was present for all to see,

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 for all to hear,

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 for all to know.

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 No one has ever seen God,

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 but then the word became flesh

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 and dwelt among us.

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 Shakespeare, as it were,

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 wrote himself into the play.

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 The one who had sent letter after letter after letter at long last,

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 crossed the ocean of eternity

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 and dwelt right in our midst.

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 And the result of this,

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 John says,

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 is that it's like light shining in our darkness.

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 Light that darkness cannot overcome.

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 And in verse 14,

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 John uses a very particular word for this light.

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 He uses the word glory.

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 Now, in the Old Testament,

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 when Moses longed to know God,

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 Moses asked God for a glimpse of his glory.

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 And so God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock

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 and the side of a mountain

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 and then passed by.

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 And Moses didn't see God,

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 but in that moment,

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 God spoke

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 and God proclaimed himself

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 to be compassionate and gracious

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 and at the same time,

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 just and righteous.

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 In other words,

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 the glory of God

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 is that he is a God of perfect justice

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 and perfect compassion

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 at the same time.

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 And now,

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 in Jesus,

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 John says,

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 we can see

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 this perfect justice

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 and perfect compassion,

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 this divine glory

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 in human flesh.

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 Now, most of our experience

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 is of one or the other,

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 isn't it?

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 Either justice

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 or compassion.

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 Either the sentence of the law

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 or the leniency of mercy.

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 We usually have one or the other.

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 But read the Gospels for yourself.

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 Consider how Jesus

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 is able to interact always

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 with justice

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 and with compassion.

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 whether it's with a skeptical disciple

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 like Nathaniel

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 or whether it's with a marginalized outsider

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 like the Samaritan woman

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 at the well

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 or whether it's with a fearful

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 but curious religious authority

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 like Nicodemus

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 or whether it's with a pair

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 of grieving sisters

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 like Mary and Martha.

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 There is always in Jesus

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 this perfect justice

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 and compassion.

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 But the greatest display

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 of Jesus' glory

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 will be seen

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 at the end of his ministry

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 where in his own person

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 the full justice

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 and the full compassion of God

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 will be displayed.

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 But at that moment

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 it won't be

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 from a throne

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 amidst kings.

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 And it won't be

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 in the temple

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 amidst the priests

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 and the religious authorities.

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 And it won't be

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 surrounded by

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 admiring onlookers.

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 No, the light

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 of the glory of God

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 in Jesus

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 will shine

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 most brightly

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 in the darkness

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 of the cross.

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 Because there

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 the justice of God

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 against human sin

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 and the mercy of God

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 for human sinners

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 will both be taken up

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 and fulfilled

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 when Jesus speaks

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 his final word

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 from the cross.

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 It is finished.

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 Finished.

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 The word

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 is spoken.

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 The light

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 has come.

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 But tragically

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 as John's prologue

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 tells us

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 here in verses

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 10 and 11

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 our natural response

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 to this word

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 and to this light

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 will actually be

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 to reject him.

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 He was in the world

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 and the world

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 was made through him

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 yet

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 the world

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 did not know him.

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 He came to his own

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 and his own people

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 did not receive him.

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 How strange

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 and broken

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 we human beings are.

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 When the word

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 is spoken

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 we close our ears

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 and when the light

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 is shining

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 we shut our eyes

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 rejecting the one

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 who is life itself.

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 and yet

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 this is not

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 how it has to be.

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 Verse 12 says

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 but to all

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 who did receive him

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 who believed

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 in his name

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 he gave the right

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 to become children

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 of God

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 who were born

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 not of blood

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 nor of the will

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 of flesh

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 nor of the will

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 of man

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 but born of God.

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 Do you see

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 what John is saying?

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 The ancient church fathers

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 used to put it like this

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 they said

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 the son of God

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 became a son of man

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 so that sons of men

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 could become

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 the children of God.

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 The incarnation

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 opened up

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 a new reality

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 for us humans.

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 The reality

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 that we can not

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 just know about God

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 but that we can

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 know God

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 and even more

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 be known by God

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 as his sons

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 and daughters.

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 That is that we can

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 be reconciled

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 to him.

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 And what that means

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 is that Jesus

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 isn't just

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 God's word

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 to us

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 but Jesus

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 has to become

00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:10.620
 our word

00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:11.759
 to God.

00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:15.259
 What do I mean

00:14:15.259 --> 00:14:15.759
 by that?

00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:19.019
 If you were

00:14:19.019 --> 00:14:19.679
 to meet God

00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.879
 what words

00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:23.819
 would you say?

00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.379
 What words

00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:27.899
 would you speak

00:14:27.899 --> 00:14:28.340
 to God

00:14:28.340 --> 00:14:28.680
 in order

00:14:28.680 --> 00:14:29.160
 to be

00:14:29.160 --> 00:14:29.860
 accepted

00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:30.340
 by him

00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:30.980
 to know

00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:31.480
 his life

00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:31.980
 and favor

00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:32.680
 to enter

00:14:32.680 --> 00:14:33.680
 into his light?

00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:35.139
 What would you

00:14:35.139 --> 00:14:36.080
 start talking about

00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:36.840
 in that moment?

00:14:39.160 --> 00:14:39.860
 Would it be

00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:40.620
 your intellectual

00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:41.280
 rigors?

00:14:43.420 --> 00:14:44.240
 Your moral

00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:44.899
 accomplishments?

00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:47.240
 Your family

00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:47.820
 background?

00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:49.840
 Your religious

00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:50.540
 observances?

00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:51.939
 words

00:14:51.939 --> 00:14:53.639
 will flicker

00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:58.919
 like a lightning

00:14:58.919 --> 00:14:59.339
 bug

00:14:59.339 --> 00:15:00.240
 and then

00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:00.819
 go dark.

00:15:02.819 --> 00:15:03.959
 The only

00:15:03.959 --> 00:15:04.599
 word

00:15:04.599 --> 00:15:05.759
 that we can

00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:06.259
 speak

00:15:06.259 --> 00:15:07.199
 before the

00:15:07.199 --> 00:15:07.759
 presence of

00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:08.139
 God

00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:09.819
 is the word

00:15:09.819 --> 00:15:10.459
 God has

00:15:10.459 --> 00:15:11.279
 given to us.

00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.860
 The incarnate

00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:14.219
 Son

00:15:14.219 --> 00:15:15.379
 our Lord

00:15:15.379 --> 00:15:16.199
 Jesus Christ

00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:16.280
 Christ.

00:15:16.920 --> 00:15:17.580
 To those

00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:18.200
 who received

00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:18.600
 him

00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:19.520
 who believed

00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:19.980
 on his

00:15:19.980 --> 00:15:20.340
 name

00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:21.060
 he gave

00:15:21.060 --> 00:15:21.360
 the right

00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:21.780
 to become

00:15:21.780 --> 00:15:22.100
 children

00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:22.660
 of God.

00:15:25.420 --> 00:15:26.120
 And so

00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:26.480
 friends,

00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:27.040
 brothers and

00:15:27.040 --> 00:15:27.320
 sisters,

00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:28.160
 the good news

00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:28.680
 of Christmas

00:15:28.680 --> 00:15:29.820
 is this.

00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.460
 not just

00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:33.720
 that God

00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:34.300
 has spoken

00:15:34.300 --> 00:15:34.879
 his word

00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:35.360
 to you

00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:35.879
 in Jesus

00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:36.320
 so that

00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:36.740
 you might

00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:37.180
 at last

00:15:37.180 --> 00:15:37.780
 truly know

00:15:37.780 --> 00:15:37.980
 him

00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:38.480
 and what

00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:38.980
 good news

00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:39.500
 that is

00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:40.020
 that we

00:15:40.020 --> 00:15:40.480
 can know

00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:40.940
 God

00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:42.920
 but that

00:15:42.920 --> 00:15:43.740
 this word

00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:44.680
 can become

00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:45.520
 your word

00:15:45.520 --> 00:15:46.080
 as well

00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.720
 so that

00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:49.140
 in Jesus

00:15:49.140 --> 00:15:49.640
 you might

00:15:49.640 --> 00:15:50.420
 join God's

00:15:50.420 --> 00:15:50.860
 family

00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:51.980
 and know

00:15:51.980 --> 00:15:52.800
 his life

00:15:52.800 --> 00:15:54.120
 and light.

00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:55.940
 Finally

00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:57.360
 the right

00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.420
 word

00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:01.759
 now that

00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:02.759
 is

00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:03.179
 lightning

00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:04.860
 and the

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:05.159
 darkness

00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:05.839
 has not

00:16:05.839 --> 00:16:06.979
 and will

00:16:06.979 --> 00:16:07.219
 not

00:16:07.219 --> 00:16:07.559
 overcome

00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:07.879
 it.

00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:09.319
 Let's

00:16:09.319 --> 00:16:09.579
 pray.

00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:17.679
 Lord Jesus

00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.279
 how familiar

00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:18.979
 to many

00:16:18.979 --> 00:16:19.419
 of us

00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:20.419
 this time

00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:20.819
 of Christmas

00:16:20.819 --> 00:16:21.240
 is.

00:16:22.459 --> 00:16:23.120
 Lord how

00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:23.659
 often we've

00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:23.980
 read some

00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:24.240
 of these

00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:24.879
 texts before

00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:25.259
 and yet

00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:25.679
 we also

00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:26.099
 acknowledge

00:16:26.099 --> 00:16:26.419
 that for

00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:26.759
 some of

00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:27.139
 us here

00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:27.399
 tonight

00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:27.779
 these things

00:16:27.779 --> 00:16:28.519
 are brand

00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:29.179
 new.

00:16:30.959 --> 00:16:31.639
 God we

00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:32.299
 ask that

00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:32.559
 you would

00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:33.299
 open our

00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:33.919
 eyes and

00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:34.539
 our hearts

00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:36.240
 to receive

00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:37.419
 this word

00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:38.059
 afresh

00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:39.860
 that Jesus

00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:40.459
 has come

00:16:40.459 --> 00:16:42.339
 to show

00:16:42.339 --> 00:16:42.720
 us God

00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:43.000
 what you

00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:43.480
 are like

00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:44.519
 and to

00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:44.819
 bring us

00:16:44.819 --> 00:16:45.199
 home to

00:16:45.199 --> 00:16:45.759
 your family.

00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:47.860
 Oh Lord

00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:48.199
 would this

00:16:48.199 --> 00:16:48.959
 Christmas time

00:16:48.959 --> 00:16:49.539
 be a time

00:16:49.539 --> 00:16:50.259
 of relishing

00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:51.139
 and enjoying

00:16:51.139 --> 00:16:52.139
 and perhaps

00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:53.279
 even grasping

00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:54.360
 the truth

00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:54.980
 about Jesus

00:16:54.980 --> 00:16:55.620
 for the first

00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:56.039
 time.

00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:58.059
 we pray

00:16:58.059 --> 00:16:58.339
 all this

00:16:58.339 --> 00:16:58.659
 in his

00:16:58.659 --> 00:16:58.959
 name.

00:16:58.959 --> 00:17:00.000
 Amen.